Sermon
delivered at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead and All Saints’ Parish
Church, Farley, Wilts. – Sunday 8th
September 2019 – Morning Worship
Deuteronomy 30:15-end; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14: 25-33;
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and may my words be a
blessing to all who hear them. Amen
“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow
me cannot be my disciple”
so says
Jesus, in our Gospel reading from Luke this morning as he continues the theme
of the difficulty of giving up our earthly possessions in order to gain the
riches of heaven.
Recently we have been reading of Jesus’s teachings in
those chapters of Luke’s gospel which for many of us, in this modern age of
consumerism and relative global wealth in the western world are extremely hard
for us to follow. Today, Jesus is
telling those large crowds he is addressing of the sacrifices which need to be
made in order to fully follow him as a disciple. He is telling the crowd that
before fully committing themselves to being a disciple they must count the cost
of doing so and be prepared to pay that cost.
When we first hear those words they appear to be so
un-Christ like don’t they? – “Whoever comes
to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
What on earth is he talking about? Do I really have to hate my parents, my
wife/husband, brother/sister, children in order to be a disciple of Christ, a
Christian? How can that be a good faithful Christian attitude to have?
Well, we have to bear in mind that the word “hate” in the
original Jewish language does not mean “hate” as we may interpret it
today. The Jewish language uses
hyperboles – “love/hate” are not actually the extremes of those emotions. To say that you “hate” somebody or something
means, in Hebrew terms, that you do not like it as much as something else. If for example I were to be asked if I would
like a cheesecake or a bread and butter pudding for my dessert for example I
might, in the Jewish way say “I’ll have the bread and butter pudding; I hate
cheesecake”. I don’t actually hate
cheesecake at all but I would by saying that I prefer the pudding. So here, what Jesus is saying is that in
order to follow him you need to lead a new life, preferring it to your current
life, and that new life will have with it many trials and tribulations. You must love God above family – not actually
hating your family but concentrating on the first of those two great
commandments – love God above all things from which all love for others will
flow.
So Jesus in this way explains to the crowd that following
him, becoming a Christian requires great sacrifices and great understanding and
planning.
The subsequent words of Jesus are indeed wise ones for he
reminds his listeners that whenever setting out on a new project you must plan
ahead and uses the examples of building a tower or waging war. You sit down and count the cost of the
building works or the war. Dare I say it that our own country’s politicians
would have done well to heed these words in Luke before embarking on projects
which have left us in a world of uncertainty and despair.
When Jesus talks about carrying our cross, back in those
days he probably meant it in reality, it was not just a metaphor, for we know
that many of his disciples were themselves martyred for their Faith. Today we still speak of taking up ones cross
and in this metaphorical use it means going against the grain of society, just
as Christ was asking the Jews not to just focus on their own world but upon the
Kingdom world – the Kingdom of God – the whole world and beyond.
Paul is doing just this in his letter to Philemon – going
against the grain in the last and shortest of his letters in the New
Testament. Unlike his other letters
which were meant to be read out aloud in the churches of the recipients, this
is very much a personal letter written by Paul from his prison cell to a fellow
Christian by the name of Philemon. It is
a personal plea to Philemon the master of a slave, Onesimus, who has become a
faithful friend and fellow Christian to Paul.
However there is one problem and that is Onesimus is Philemon’s slave
and as such the legal property of Philemon.
The book of Philemon was used greatly during the American
Civil War as scriptural authority for both slavery and anti-slavery – both
accepting that slavery was an acceptable and acknowledged institution but also
that slaves should be set free in proper Christian society. For the purposes of today’s address I don’t
intend to go into this debate but use Paul’s plea as an example of where we as
Christians may find ourselves in potential conflict with what society might
consider the norm.
Philemon appears to have been a man of some standing in
the city of Colossae and one of his slaves, Onesimus had run away to the big
city of Rome – capital of the Roman Empire at that time or Ephesus – we cannot
be sure which – where he might escape detection. Somehow, whilst in one of
those cities he came across Paul and through him became a Christian.
It appears that Paul became very much taken with Onesimus
and treated him more like a son than just a friend but Onesimus was still,
technically, Philemon’s legal property. It was therefore hard for Paul and even
harder for Onesimus for the slave to be returned to Philemon as he would, in
the normal course of events be subjected to the most terrible punishment – even
death. Every slave would have borne a
tag which would have read “Seize me if I
should try and escape and send me back to my master”. By having protected
Onesimus, Paul was breaking the Roman law. Therefore Paul, if he wanted to keep
Onesimus would have to make amends and return him to Philemon however
counter-intuitive that seemed. The Book
of Philemon, therefore, is the “covering note” returning Onesimus to his master
with a plea to free him and treat him as a free man – appealing to Philemon’s
Christian principles. Paul sent Tychicus with Onesimus for moral support as he
himself, Paul, was in prison and Onesimus must have felt extremely apprehensive
at returning to his master after having escaped from him.
How does this have a bearing on our gospel passage? Well, I think that this letter does provide
clear evidence of how Paul would deal with slavery in the context of a
Christian community – and thus an example of what the world, in a Christian
way, should be like in this respect – going against the grain of what had
become acceptable but what was clearly wrong.
Being prepared to stand up and take risks for Christ; to pick up and
take his cross.
Paul does not openly criticise the institution of slavery
but, as Tom Wright has put it – he has laid a depth charge beneath it. In
effect he is saying to Philemon that Onesimus has much to give the Christian
community – he Paul has treated him like a brother, he has instilled a new life
in him but God has not yet finished with him yet and to complete the change he
should be treated not as a chattel but as a free decent human being. The new Christian communities which Paul is
setting up and to whom he is writing should stand out and be different – both
spiritually and socially.
Paul in giving Philemon his IOU in verses 18-19 is
cleverly recalling Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan – “…if he owes you anything charge that to my account”.
Finally, it interesting to read that all these basic
principles of loving God by the manner in which we show love to others, by
doing all we can to bring into this commercial and selfish world those
principles and teaching of Christ were spoken of long ago by Moses in the
portion of the Book of Deuteronomy which was read out to us this morning:
“…I am commanding
you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways and observing his
commandments, decrees and ordinances…” and here I am inserting the words “by treating others with dignity, respect
and Christian love” “…you shall live
and become numerous and the LORD your God will bless you…”
We would all do well to remember to live by this
principle; truth, honesty and respect for our fellow humans especially at this
time of great division in our Nation and as followers of Christ to be a church
of reconciliation and hope.
Let us pray
Dear Lord,
we pray for your church of which we are a part:
that at this time of great national division
we pray for your church of which we are a part:
that at this time of great national division
we might be a place of honest reflection;
respectful dialogue;
open friendship;
humility and reconciliation.
respectful dialogue;
open friendship;
humility and reconciliation.
Amen
MFB/07092019
